Doctor Who

[Deleted]

the problem with The Quatermass Experiment is not Tennant and Varma (obv!), it's the script and direction. I couldn't be bothered to do any research (my bad), but it seemed very much like a 1960s radio play, very poorly mounted for television.

Well, it is a remake of a 1950s BBC series, so maybe they didn't change the script much? I don't know, I haven't seen either of them...

Doctor Who...is on in twenty seven hours. Whee Tennant!

[Deleted]

erinnyes said:

Well, it is a remake of a 1950s BBC series, so maybe they didn't change the script much? I don't know, I haven't seen either of them...

From IMDb:

I haven't seen such a mess as this on the BBC in a long time.

The script is straight from the pioneering 1953 TV series, when spying on earth from a satellite was a futuristic idea, and travelling in a spacecraft 500,000 miles from Earth was a step into the unknown.

But crazily, it is updated to the 21st century, where all this is massively anachronistic.

The production is also 1950s-style. It is shot in live action (much was made of this at the time, but what does it add?), hand-held cameras are artlessly handled, the sets and cast are both dreadfully impoverished, e.g. Mission Control consists of three people in a bunker with a couple of laptop PCs! The woman in Mission Control takes over as the sole nurse in the hospital room, etc, etc.

In a genuine 1950s production you could live with all this, of course - or perhaps if it was a spoof on the 1950s. But this is apparently intended as a serious drama! It didn't work for me.

Indeed.

Back to the topic at hand, my browser is currently positioned to search for torrents reviews of the Christmas special.

[grumpygirl]

Any word on what happened on Doctor Who today? Was this supposed to be the Runaway Bride episode? Those of us outside the U.K. need to know since we won't see anything until this summer.

[laconicchick]

Yeah, it was the Christmas special. I mean, I have no idea because I certainly haven't seen it... oh, screw it.

I cried, because I am a loser. I'll spoiler-tag it because I'd hate to spoil anyone who doesn't want to be spoiled. <<I got teary when Donna found Rose's shirt. I got teary again when they were talking about her on the roof. I cried when the Doctor remembered Rose collapsing (twice) in "New Earth." Then I cried again at the end, especially when she asked him what Rose's name was. I know I am pathetic. But he's so heartbroken! I don't care if people don't like the teen angsty vibe... I love it. As for the rest of the episode, it was okay. It was an interesting idea. Donna was a bit screechy and demanding. There were lots of little Doctor bits that I loved, but I have to think about it some more.>> For those of you who like that sort of thing, there's also a shot from below of the Doctor climbing up a ladder in a tunnel-y thing. I hope someone else watched it so it's not just me going on about it and being soppy.

Oh, and <<I thought the Doctor was really hot when he was flooding the Racnoss to death. Is that a bad thing? You know, since he was killing things at the time? But he was all wet and angry... I like the angry Doctor and I hope we see a lot more of him, although excited Doctor is adorable. But angry Doctor is hot. And when he mentioned Gallifrey, ooh. I think I had goosebumps. Poor Doctor.>>

To make myself happy I will think about why <<Rose's shirt was draped over the TARDIS railing and not, say, a jacket or something. Maybe she left it behind (since she wouldn't have had time to pack or anything...) and he put it there or maybe there's a more smutty reason. I'll assume the latter.>>

It is weird to think that that episode takes place immediately after the beach scene in "Doomsday."

[Deleted]

He was so sad. All Doctorlike and businesslike when he had to be, but every time he remembered. She's not there any more. Wah. He is so sad. And I don't think it's teen angsty, LaconicChick, it's just the total devastation of a man who's lost his best friend (regardless of anything else that was going on) and knows he'll never get her back, even though neither of them is even dead. Worse, because he knows that she always made the choice to stay with him, and this was completely against her will. That's harder than death, in a way.

Poor Doctor.

[laconicchick]

He is so sad. And I don't think it's teen angsty, LaconicChick, it's just the total devastation of a man who's lost his best friend (regardless of anything else that was going on) and knows he'll never get her back, even though neither of them is even dead.

Yeah, fair point. I was just reading a rant on LJ the other day that was complaining that it was like watching a soap opera and the "love of his life" (which I think RTD and David Tennant have both said) stuff was annoying them because it's the Doctor!! And he's Not Like That!! But I think it is fantastic, and I am loving the dark, devastated side of the Doctor. I hope it continues.

"She's not dead... She is so alive!" *sniff*

[grumpygirl]

Is the episode online anywhere so that those of us who are desparate for it, and can't get it for months, can have a look. I want to cry some more, too, dammit!

[Deleted]

Seriously, y'all are killing me. I just got addicted during the marathon on Friday, and I can't stay away!

[laconicchick]

So about the Racnoss children... Are we supposed to side with Donna and think that the Doctor went too far? Because I really don't understand that. They were bad. He killed them. How is that a bad thing? I don't get how that makes the Doctor all dark and stuff. I mean, I love the darker side of the Doctor, but I don't see how stopping a threat to the Earth is a sign of that. Yeah, the Empress was sad that her children were dying, but so what? They were going to eat people! Boo freaking hoo! I don't get why Donna was so upset; he did what he had to do. Frankly, I don't think he let *enough* water in.

[Deleted]

Did she say he went too far, or just that she couldn't handle it? God, I'm losing my marbles here.

I think it's a problem that a lot of humans have when they're interacting with the Doctor. He can be ruthless in a way that most humans, unless they're homicidal maniacs, aren't, and he sees things in the long term, which they don't. Donna was faced with the immediate pain of the Racnoss Empress, and the knowledge that her children were dying right then, and she felt pity. I think the humans tend to project their own feelings onto other creatures, and they don't always grasp that the other creatures don't share their ability to pity or empathise. Plus humans are pretty well trained in genocide=bad.

Eh, I don't know. I didn't leave with the feeling that I should've sided with her. She was kind of dumb and short-sighted.